Evo Morales: Right-Wing Threats Loom as Bolivia’s Ex-President Urges Voters to Boycott Controversial Election

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, former Bolivian President Evo Morales expressed uncertainty about potential arrest threats from right-wing presidential candidates should they ascend to power. Speaking from his stronghold in the tropical region of Chapare, where he has been residing under the protection of loyal supporters for months, Morales reiterated his call for voters to mar the ballots in the upcoming elections, defying his exclusion due to a questionable constitutional court ruling.

“What are we to do? I myself am unsure,” Morales responded when queried about his response should either right-wing frontrunners, business magnate Samuel Doria Medina or former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, win the presidential election and follow through with their threats of arresting him. “I find myself in the crosshairs of the right-wing power structure,” he added.

Morales, 65, was indicted last year for human trafficking and accused of impregnating a 15-year-old girl during his presidency. Despite not outright denying intimate relations with the minor, Morales has characterized the charges as politically motivated. A judge issued an arrest warrant amidst disputes between Morales and his former finance minister, President Luis Arce, over control of their long-reigning Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) Party.

Their bitter power struggle led to the party’s fragmentation. With Bolivia experiencing its worst economic crisis in nearly four decades, the MAS Party’s implosion offers the right-wing opposition an unprecedented opportunity to win at the polls since Morales first assumed office in 2006.

“This is an election devoid of legality, legitimacy, and popular support… It’s a protest vote, a vote of anger,” contended Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, during his interview at the headquarters of his political organization, where he broadcasts a weekly radio show.

He denounced Doria Medina and Quiroga, who have each run for presidency three times previously, losing on at least two occasions to Morales, as “perennial losers.” Citing widespread voter disenchantment with the available options, he expressed optimism that the election outcome would exhibit an unusually high proportion of invalid votes.

“Nobody will win. It will be the spoiled vote—that’s Evo’s vote,” Morales stated, referring to himself in third person.